Onboard Pressurized Water System for the 2005-Current Toyota Tacoma OBW

I installed my kit last night and am pretty happy with it! A couple of pointers I'll pass along that I found in the process... the instructions that Anthony put together are great, and the level of detail provided is excellent. I was part of the initial shipment with the wrong switches, so I opted to use a different switch even though I could have gotten away with the one Anthony sent before the issue was uncovered. He's offered us a refund for the switch portion so buy with confidence that he's going to take care of his customers. I chose to mount my switch in the bedside storage bin with the pump and stored hoses, and only had to make a few extra cuts along the bedside to accommodate the switch. I put the switch toward the upper corner to keep anything from engaging it accidentally while out on the trail.

When I was plumbing the lines through the taillight cavity I tried using an extra washer to help prevent over tightening the fittings. All that did was cause the fitting to not seat fully and water leaked from the taillight cavity once I tested the pump. Lesson learned... use the supplied washer and call it good as it's plenty sufficient. During my assembly and reassembly of the fittings I applied a small amount of teflon tape to help seal the fittings. 35 psi isn't likely to cause any leaks to a properly tightened fitting, but I thought the tape can't hurt and possibly benefit the seal being as the truck will bounce around off road a lot in the future.

The pump itself isn't very loud, but mounting it in the storage bin within the bedsides allows the sound to resonate. I may add some sound deadening mat to the outside of the storage bin and door, but it's not really that big of a deal unless you're trying to stealth camp. I plan on having an outdoor shower setup using a tank-less water heater in line with this setup. I'll wind up using it during hunting season for early morning showers at some point and I don't want to be the noisy jerk at camp!

Here's a few install pics where you can see how I mounted the switch in the storage bin. The notch I had to cut on the side of the bin mount area is covered by the bin's bezel and is not seen once everything is put back together.





Here's the notch and the side of the switch body


Here's the switch packaging for the switch I used.

All around this is a great kit and I can't wait to put it to good use.

 

^^^ in addition to all that... I added a zip tie (plenty included in the kit) to the wiring quick connect spade terminals so that I can pull the connectors back through the storage bin and disconnect them easily. Doing that and removing the four mounting screws and two hose clamps lets you remove the pump fairly easily during freezing weather.

 

do you think the pump would fit in the SMALLER cubby?

 

I'm curious about this as well...

 

I don't care if the hose and spray gun don't fit in the small cubby. As long as the pump can fit in there, id be good.

I want the larger cubby for this OBA setup:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/oba-on-board-air-mega-thread-bs.299523/page-34#post-11986884

 

I've got an OR with the 110 outlet next to the cubby so I don't know if other models have larger cubbies in that spot. but you will not be able to store the hoses there as well. I could fit there with some customization... the pump is 7" long, but it will not sit flush with the back of my driver side cubby which is just over 6 inches long (the opening of the cubby is 7"). You'd have to add some type of mounting plate going across the cubby to get it to fit snug or cut a hole in one side of the cubby to get it to sit flat against the back. I'd be afraid that doing that would make it nearly impossible to reinstall the cubby, but if you cut a big enough hole it shouldn't matter.

 

I have the OR also.

hmmm

 

That looks nice for OBA! I'm not sure where I'll be putting mine, but I like that the wet stuff will be staying in the bed and maybe I'll keep air hoses in the cab.

 

Where here's a will there's a way... chop up that cubby and show us what you come up with! Also keep in mind that the pump would be further away from the mounting area of the quick connect fittings, so you may need longer hoses when installing in the driver cubby.

 

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or I can install them on the same side as the pump?

 

Yes, I didn't quite clarify what I meant there. The distance from the driver side fitting mount area to the driver mount area of the pump is shorter than the distance from the passenger side fitting mount area to the passenger mount area of the pump... so the included hoses that are designed to mount on the driver side may or may not reach, but I'm inclined to think that they would be sufficient to use on the passenger side.

 

Lots of new posts since my last check in... i can throw a pump inside the small passenger side pocket and take a picture later tonight or tomorrow morning for those interested in trying this. Itll give you an idea of fitment issues. If you manage to install on that size, there should still be planty of slack on the includee hoses to reach just fine. Only issue i see might be the power wire reaching the battery. Its 21ft long and only has an extra 1-3 ft so crossing over to the battery might be short. You can always extend it though really easily.

In regards to the switches, i have replacement switches on order which should arrive by early next week and then new kits will be ready to send out. The new switch will be identical to the round one in the installation manual except itll now be a blue light. I thought blue was clever since its for water haha.

I live in cali so while designing this i never considered that many other places experience sub freezing temperatures. The pump is very easy to remove from the pocket without any major disassembly so this will still accomodate those who need to remove the pump during winter.

Thank you @trekker for your extensive review! Much appreciated

 

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Has anyone tried to mount the pump anywhere else besides the cubby? like maybe attach the pump to the frame under the bed? the pump looks small enough to be able to mount it almost anywhere and be able to keep it out of the way of anything that could damage it.

 

Ive been wanting to try this for some time now as well. You could mount it up under the truck or inside the frame rails. The pump is tiny. As long as its mounted to a solid surface and has at least 1 cubic foot of space to vent it fine

 

not trying to be a A hole here by any means, its great idea you have

but $210 shipped for that? all i see it a cheap water pump, some wiring, some tubing, couple connectors and a cheap hose nozzle

i feel like youre wasting space mounting in that cubby that could be used for something else

i'd tie in a Pre-Pressurized Accumulator Tank to eliminate the pulsing
and run bigger hose from the tank to the strainer, you're slowing down the water flow right out the tank
i dont know the exact sizes of hoses youre using but looks like you got 1/4" tubing going up to 3/8".
should be the other way around if anything......
whats the reason for the tiny tubing from the water supply?

the reason im asking is because what if some of us dont have a gravity feed supply tank like you have?
lets say mine was mounted where the spare tire is?

 

Anthony did all the research and design for his OBWS and people liked it. He asked tw members who was interested in this set up and got a lot of response. The price your paying is for the convince of everything being put together as a kit and shipped to your front door. Some folks like it that way. Myself I'm a buy a piece here and there guy.
Anthony does have a nice setup here. Entrepreneurship in the good Ole USA. Only in America............

 

I have tested larger tubing on the intake and it didnt make any difference. It does go 1/4 to 3/8 back to 1/4 and i did consider all of that when making it. But keeping it all 3/8 or even 3/8 back to 1/4 didnt change the flow or pressure. If however you wanted to use a tank like you mentioned, the 1/4 intake line could be easily replaced with a 3/8 line of your choice and a $2 replacement hose barb. The kit was designed to be extremely versatile and allow everyone to taylor it to their needs. Keeping it simple was a priority. Adding an accumulator tank would increase cost, take up space, make installation more complicated, make shipping more expensive, and provide minimal benefit to the majority of people who are interested in this. Just like the hot water portion. Its a future that anyone can add, but the kit out of the box serves its purpose for majority of the audience while keeping it simple and cost efficient. The parts used are not cheap .99 store or ebay parts. The pump is also a name brand pump with a manufacturer warranty, not a knock off pump. I respect your criticism though. Anyone here is welcome to spend about $80-100 on cheap parts or $120-180 on quality parts and build it themselves, just like anyone can build a $50 pvc shower instead of a $300 steel road shower. Just about everything we buy can be made cheaper on our own and thats ok. Markup on this is quite minimal and is not meant to be a business for me. It took hours over hours across several months to design this and work out all the kinks. Several pumps of different sizes, different hose types, different filters and fittings, all were tested to come up with the best overall design. Nobody is forced to buy this by any means, but its here and available for those who do. It is also cheaper then most of the competition and offers more features. So pricing is highly competitive with the market.